


if you are chilly, here take my sweater

by robbstarkswoman



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Amanita/Nomi mentioned, Diego talks shit, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kala/Wolfgang mentioned, Like hella pining, Pining, Will is an RA, Will is an actual puppy, and long, heart eyes, it's hella cute, this is long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 05:45:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4127298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robbstarkswoman/pseuds/robbstarkswoman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Nomi and Diego make Will watch The Notebook one more time he's going to punch someone.</p><p>(or, Will attends college, meets a beautiful girl and like a cliche, his life turns into a rom-com)</p>
            </blockquote>





	if you are chilly, here take my sweater

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Ingrid Michaelson's 'The Way I Am'.
> 
> This show has consumed me, these characters have consumed me; so I had to write something so COLLEGE AU YES.  
> This was a beast to write. Be gentle, please.

It starts during O Week of their senior year – Will and Diego are finding the course books and textbooks they need for their courses and relaxing on campus when they turn a corner and run smack bang into a petite woman coming the opposite way.

She lets out a squeak and Will automatically goes to steady her, looking down to ensure she’s alright.

“Sorry about that.”

The girl shakes her head. God, she’s beautiful.

“Don’t worry about it, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She says, in heavily accented English.

Will can’t really take his eyes off her.

“But you’re alright?” He studies the way the light hits her eyes and her pale skin, the whiteness of her hair and the errant blue streak on the side. She looks content.

“I’m fine, but thank you.” She smiles up at him.

He doesn’t really want to let her leave, but Diego clears his throat and tilts his head with widened eyes and so Will steps to the side, murmuring a quick “bye” as she leaves, noticing the way she turns around to smile at him again.

She’s breath-taking, and Will needs to see her again.

.

As luck would have it, she’s in some of his classes – in his Introduction to Evolution paper, one of his last electives – and he sees her smiling with a dark skinned boy and shrieking with laughter as a tall, blonde boy chases her down the corridor when they leave, but she doesn’t seem to see him.

Nomi rolls her eyes from where she sits beside Will and texts Diego every single time he happens to gaze over to the left hand side of the room.

He’s not obsessed, he’s _not_ , he just happens to like looking around the class. Happens to be observant, thank you very much Diego, _shut the fuck up_.

He’s not sure whether he’s fooling anyone, except himself. But really, he’s the only one he needs to trick.

 

…

 

Playing varsity football while also being an RA and a senior is a lot more difficult than it looks on TV and in the movies, Will decides halfway through the first semester. He barely has time to socialise outside of his commitments, and so he’s glad he’s practically attached to Nomi and Diego’s hips. That’s the perks of living down the street from one another since birth and going to the same schools for their whole lives – he’s particularly glad that they didn’t even think about splitting up to go to college, because that would have sucked.

So he’s not surprised to find Nomi in his room, watching some sort of awful rom-com with Diego, when he gets back from practice one Friday night. Technically no one should be in his room while he’s not there, especially when he’s the RA, but it would be odd if they weren’t there – especially when they both live just a few floors down anyways.

“You’re just in time for the best part,” Nomi whispers as he enters, patting the free area on the bed.

Neither of them can take their eyes off Diego’s laptop screen but Will humours them, sitting down on the bed and craning his neck over to see what’s happening.

He only needs to look at the screen for a millisecond to realise what they’re watching.

“The Notebook, _again_?” He groans, flopping back and dragging a hand down his face.

“Just because you haven’t written anyone 365 letters.” Diego says mildly, reaching down to the popcorn perched between them.

And alright, it’s not a bad movie, per say, it’s just that they watch this every freaking month it seems – or whenever Nomi has had a bad day, or Diego is trying to get the nerve up to ask someone out, and honestly Will wouldn’t mind another movie.

“Will, I can hear your groaning in my head.” Nomi points out, looking over to him quickly with her brow furrowed.

Will rolls his eyes – he wasn’t even going to groan. Okay, maybe he was going to. But that’s beside the point.

“Have some popcorn, Gorski. Or take a shower. You smell.”

Will throws his pillow at Diego and heads to the shower.

“You love my manly aroma, don’t deny it.” He calls out, laughing at Diego’s exaggerated wink and Nomi’s smirk.

.

Since it is a Friday night, Will isn’t surprised to find them waiting expectantly in some nicer clothes when he finally exits the shower.

“Will, we’re having an intervention.” Nomi begins seriously.

He just raises an eyebrow.

“We’re going to a party, and you’re coming with us. We know you don’t have duty tonight, so really you have no excuse.” Diego adds, throwing one of Will’s nice shirts at him from his desk.

Will just sighs. He likes parties, he really does but he's exhausted. But there’s no way they’re going to go without him – he knows every one of their tricks and is ashamed that they can wrap him round their fingers the way they can.

So instead he just nods. “Fine, we’ll go. But we’re coming back by 2 and you have to leave me alone to study tomorrow.”

As he’s getting changed he remembers to ask whose party. Since they all live at the dorms, and they’re not allowed to throw parties, just have a few drinks in their rooms, he’s not sure how they’ve managed to get an invite to someone else’s party.

“Noms has a cruuuusssshhh.” Diego sings, wiggling his hips and shaking his arms from his seat.

Will whirls around so quickly he’s sure he has whiplash.

“Ayyyy, who is the lucky girl?” He asks, watching as Nomi goes bright red and pretends to flick lint from her tights.

“Just this girl in one of my politics lectures. She lives just off-campus with some exchange students. I dunno, it’s nothing.”

He finds it interesting that she’s down playing this so much. Every other time she’s liked someone she’s gushed to them both non-stop.

“So, what’s the issue?” He perches next to her on the bed, throwing a quick glance at Diego who just shrugs.

“This is my first proper crush since completely finishing all of my surgeries, I guess I’m just scared. Maybe she doesn’t want to be with someone like me.”

Ah, there it is.

“Nom, who wouldn’t want to be with you, you’re incredible.” Will whispers, grabbing one of her hands and squeezing it tight. She’s one of the bravest people Will knows, she doesn’t deserve to be plagued with insecurities – especially when she’s finally getting to be who she wants to be.

“Fuck ‘em, I say.” Diego adds.

.

So they end up in front of a run down, white, two story house with people spilling from what seems like every possible corner of both the yard and house.

Will can’t spot one person he recognises, which is probably a good thing because if any of his fellow RAs or residents were here, he would never hear the end of it. There, he’s Will, the good guy who studies in his room and has rocking movie nights with his floor - but doesn’t party.

They’re debating whether to try and weave their way through the crush of people when a tall dark-skinned girl with multi-coloured dreads seems to come out of nowhere before flinging her arms around Nomi.

“Nomi, I’m so glad you came!” She shrieks, pulling back and grasping her shoulders.

Nomi just laughs nervously, looking between Diego and Will.

“And you brought friends, how fantastic! Hi, I’m Amanita, or Neets.” She looks between the two boys, smiling warmly. Will already likes her.

“Will,” he says, smiling at her, adjusting the beers under his arm and holding out a hand for her to shake. She has a firm grip, Will likes her even more. Diego introduces himself too and they thank her for the invite, which she brushes off quickly, saying it’s her pleasure to have them there.

She looks around the party and starts talking wildly, leading them around the place and pointing out various points of interest: the kegs, in the kitchen with the plastic cups; the bathroom, up the stairs and to the left; potential weed, floating around with her flatmates Wolfgang and Riley, or alternatively up the stairs and the second right.

Diego points out to Will how Nomi is hanging on every word and they both chuckle as they try and take in all that the party has to offer. Will can hear some sort of club music coming from the backyard but maybe it’s the all the different sources of music coming from all over the place. He doesn’t think he’s ever really been around so many incredibly drunk and high people in his life.

Soon, Diego is dragged into the crowd by some tall guy Will knows is definitely Diego’s type and Will is left standing awkwardly with Nomi and Amanita as they both make sex-eyes at each other. Honestly, he doesn’t understand why they haven’t already left and gone back to Amanita’s room – the sexual tension is palpable.

Amanita rushes off a minute later, having to deal with some more new arrivals, and Nomi lets out a heavy sigh.

“She’s so into you it’s not funny.” Will blurts out, nursing a beer and looking around at the writhing bodies on the make-shift dance floor. He doesn’t even have to look at Nomi to know that she’s fidgeting and is probably biting her bottom lip with a look of deep concentration on her face.

“I don’t know, Will.”

She’s got to be shitting him.

“Holy fuck, if you two had been looking at each other with anymore fucking fire in your eyes we would have all combusted by now.”

He smirks when she groans and looks up at the ceiling.

“Honestly, Noms, go find her, if it goes badly just tell her you were super drunk and they started playing some Arctic Monkeys so you were horny. She doesn’t seem like the type of girl to hold a grudge if she didn’t want something. And then you can just awkwardly avoid her for the rest of the year.”

He gives her gentle nudge in the direction Amanita went and she squares her shoulders.

“You better be fucking right Gorski, or we’re watching The Notebook every second night and I’ll tell your residents you’re obsessed.”

Will can take that, especially when he knows he’s right.

.

The rest of the night is a blur of beer pong with people he’s never met before, helping a girl called Dani find her purse, and subsequently meeting her friends Lito and Hernando, and then spending the rest of the night dancing outside to some rocking beats. The DJ is incredible, Will drunkenly thinks, as closes his eyes and just lets himself feel the music. He’s hyper aware of all of the people surrounding him, the small hands around his bicep and the way someone is cheering into the night over his shoulder.

And then Diego finds him again, pulling his arm frantically. “Gorski, dude, your girl is here.”

Will doesn’t have a girl. “What?” He asks, opening his eyes and wiping the sweat from his face.

“That foreign chick you almost bowled over. The girl in your lecture, the one you’re practically obsessed with.”

Oh, god, no.

“Shit, where? No, shit, I’m too drunk,” he looks around, sees Lito and Hernando making out a few people down from him and Dani dancing wildly until she sees Diego, and –

“Hey,” Dani approaches them. Will thinks she could be likened to a predator, the way she moves towards them both.

Will can practically hear Diego swallow.

“Well hello there gorgeous, I’m Diego. Will’s roommate.”

How the hell does that work? It’s not even a good pick up line. Obviously Dani doesn’t care though, because she just grins even more scarily – well, Will thinks it’s pretty terrifying – and bites down on her lip. He knows she hears Diego’s low moan when her grin gets wider.

Jesus fuck, can’t someone stay single with him.

He looks over Diego’s shoulder and back up to the house. And then he sees her.

It’s honestly like time slows, or at least everything else but her seems to disappear from his vision. He feels Diego tug on his arm, but he can’t bring himself to look away. _She’s_ the DJ. She’s dancing along with the tunes, gazing out at the crowd with a wide grin on her face, working away on her laptop and well shit, he’s not even convincing himself anymore. What a fucking cliché.

“Diego,” he breathes, “who is she?”

She closes her eyes and looks up to the stars for a second before the song changes, and this time it begins slowly, and Will can feel the ebb and flow of the bass and the, well he’d call it the life-force of the song. He knows she can feel it too – she stops her frantic movement and just grins, moving her arms up slowly before the beat drops. He takes a breath as she does. He feels so connected to her just through this simple act that his head starts reeling.

Diego is cackling behind him, he knows it. But he can’t bring himself to care. She’s stunning.

“Romeo, Romeo, snap out it.” Diego starts slapping his face, bringing Will back to the present.

“Shit Diego, what.”

Dani giggles from her place under Diego’s arm. Diego looks at him like he’s an idiot.

“Maybe stop looking like a love-sick puppy, it might put her off.”

“Diego, I swear I’m gonna punch you so hard one day.”

He looks back and she’s gone.

“Fuuuck. Fuck, fuck, look what you did.”

Dani just taps his chest. “Honey, she’s probably in the kitchen getting a drink. Go talk to her, or the next time I see her I’m going to tell her she has a stalker.”

No, no, no. Will can’t do that. He can barely remember his own name right now, he’s in no state to talk to her.

Diego notices his reluctance. “Gorski, if you don’t go, I will personally ruin your life.”

“Her name is Riley.” Dani calls out as he makes his way through the mass of people surrounding them.

And okay, he’s drunk enough that he doesn’t think about how pathetic Diego’s threat is, because Diego would never, and Will also knows that he’s drunk enough that not talking to her seems like it would be a tragedy.

.

Except he can’t find her.

He goes to bed with a heavy heart, and Diego’s apologies fall on deaf ears.

 

…

 

He sees her around the place over the next month or so. It’s like the universe is trying to taunt him – shoving her up in his face as if laughing at his lack of nerve to just go up and talk to her. She’s in the corner of the coffee shop, working on her laptop. She’s in the library when he’s trying to find a seat, and always seems to be somewhere within his vision in their Evolution paper.

His concentration falls drastically in those lectures.

Nomi starts dating Amanita, and so instead of just Nomi being in his room a majority of the time, she often brings Neets along. They don’t watch The Notebook as often anymore, usually opting for whatever Neets and Will grudgingly say they’ll watch. Diego and Nomi proudly tick more and more movies off their rom-com bucket list and Will responds by throwing the unpopped popcorn kernels at them every time they start to gloat.

 

…

 

A month or two after Nomi and Amanita start dating, Amanita invites them to a bar down the road for a few drinks with her flatmates.

Nomi only has to look at them both to express how much she wants them to go, and to be honest, they both happily agree, with Will conceding that as long as it’s a night he doesn’t have duty, he’ll definitely be there.

So they make their way there one Saturday to find Neets waving at them energetically.

“Yay, you both came!” She says to Will and Diego, grabbing Nomi’s hand and dragging them towards a table at the back, beside the pool tables.

“Fuck me,” Diego says as they come into view, seeing three other people around the table.

Oh, fuck.

.

“So this is Nomi, and her two friends Will and Diego, and these are my flatmates Wolfgang, Capheus and Riley.” Amanita introduces them all, pointing at each person around the table.

They get nods from Wolfgang, bright smiles from Capheus and Will can hardly bring himself to look at _her_ , but he does notice she smiles shyly.

“Shall I buy a round?” Capheus asks warmly, pointing towards the bar.

“Oh no, I’ll get it.” Will offers quickly, his eyes darting around the people at the table.

He can hear his heart pounding in his head, and he just needs to get away from them all for a minute.

“Yeah, it’s the least Will and I can do, as thanks for your great party a few months ago,” Diego chimes in, pushing Will towards the bar, “what the fuck, Gorski. You need to chill. This is the perfect opportunity.”

And okay, yeah, Will knows this. He also knows that he can be damn charming when he wants to be. He’s Will Gorski, winner of the ‘best smile’ superlative at high school, and he knows how to make people like him. 

But there’s something about her that affects him in such a damn clichéd chick-flick way. It’s ridiculous.

“Gorski, I’ve know you since we were both crying babies. I’ve seen you pick up chicks. Goddamn you picked up that Sarah chick with no problems, and you were just as obsessed with her. You can do this.”

As he orders the round, Will nods firmly, looking down at his hands as they clench the wood of the bar. Yeah, he’s got this. He’s Will fucking Gorski.

.

Nomi, the good friend that she is, manages to place Will next to Riley.

“You ran into me at the beginning of the semester.” Riley says accusingly when Will finally gets back to their table with the drinks. He slides into the empty seat and darts a look at her, noticing the way her lips are curled up in a smile, the angle of her jaw and cheek.

He chuckles and rubs the back of his head. So what if he knows it makes his arms look good too, his head’s itchy.

“I think you’ll find that Diego agrees with me, you were definitely not looking at where you were going, so really, you ran into me.”

She’s smiling down into her drink and he sees her scoff and roll her eyes good-naturedly.

“It was my first week in America, I think you can forgive me.”

Will grins.

“You’re from where exactly?” He shifts on his seat, angling his body towards her more and leaning in. Her hands are idly playing with her glass, and Will would guess that there are about 6 inches between his left hand and her right hand. He makes sure that his is in a casual, yet comfortable, position – just in case she needs to grab it or something.

“I’m from Iceland, Wolfgang is German and has been here for a year already and Capheus is Kenyan, so we’re quite the mix.”

Will had almost forgotten the other two were there, he was so wrapped up in the way her white and blue hair hit her face and the lights shining down on her. They had apparently not forgotten him though – Wolfgang seemed to be glaring at him, and Capheus had something like a grin on his face.

Will decides to address the group, leaning back a little in the chair so he’s out of the aroma of perfume surrounding Riley, and he looks to the two men, asking why they decided to come to this particular university.

Wolfgang just shrugs, but Capheus begins a long, impassioned speech about the freedoms in this country (a fact that Will knows is completely false, but he guesses it does seem that way to someone originally from Kenya) and also how his mother told him it looked like the nicest campus to be around. Riley just nods and looks back down into her drink, but Will can’t help but notice that she’s drawn into herself.

He resolves not to ask too many more questions.

.

Instead, they play pool.

Will and Capheus vs Diego and Wolfgang, leaving the girls to talk amongst themselves as they laugh and critique them from their table.

Wolfgang is incredible, and Diego isn’t half bad himself, so they easily finish the game before Will has even had a good amount of shots in.

“Anyone want to play just me?” He asks as the game finishes.

“Gorski, we just whooped your ass, I ain’t gonna do it again.” Diego says, clapping Wolfgang on the back. Wolfgang smirks at Will and announces that he will buy the next round, leaving the group.

Capheus explains that he doesn’t think he will be able to give Will a fair game, and then Riley steps in.

“I’ll play you.” She looks confident.

Except, as he’s about to say yes his phone rings.

It’s Kala, the RA on duty.

“Hey, what’s up?” He answers, giving Riley an apologetic smile and turning away from the group, leaning on his pool cue.

“Will, you need to come back, Ellie from third floor is having some sort of fit and I’m going to take her to the hospital but then we need another RA for duty, and no one else is picking up please oh my gosh..”

Will stops her before she’s starts fully freaking out. “Kala, hey it’s fine, I’ll be there in a few minutes, you go with her, just leave the duty phone on the desk, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He hears her let out a deep breath and he brushes off her thanks – it’s what he signed up for when he took the job after all. He tries not to think about the game of pool he was going to play with Riley, and he suddenly imagines having to teach her how to hold the cue, his breath washing over her shoulder, having to angle her body correctly and –

Will really needs to chill.

“Sorry everyone, I have to head back to the dorm.” Will explains when he collects himself and turns around.

Riley is leaning against the pool table and he feels his heart sink at the resigned look on her face, the way she’s playing with a hole in her knitted jumper. Diego has a shit-eating grin on his face that Will knows is all due to the face Will never seems to get Riley alone and he’s incredibly tempted to smack it off his face.

“Aw no,” Amanita groans, looking to Nomi and Capheus, “we were going to go do some karaoke!”

.

The rest of the night has him dealing with numerous lock outs, a girl on girl fight because someone’s boyfriend cheated on them (“Come on girls, he’s the one to blame, don’t hurt each other,”), and an incredibly drunk Lito serenading Hernando from outside – Will didn’t even know Hernando lived in the dorms, but Lito cries with joy when he sees Will and gives him a big hug, begging him to let him in to go to Hernando. Thankfully, Hernando comes downstairs after Will finds his number, and is also overjoyed to see Will again, before taking his boyfriend away.

By the time he’s managed to make it back to his room, he’s surprised to find a friend notification from Capheus. He settles onto his bed with his laptop and stalks him – maybe he’ll be able to find Riley. Sure enough, Capheus has taken a lot of pictures about his time in America, and Riley and Neets feature heavily. Wolfgang is in a few pulling the finger, and Will is surprised to find a picture of what looks like Kala pulling Wolfgang through an alleyway downtown. He didn’t even know Kala had a boyfriend. But then again, maybe they’re all friends; there are enough pictures of Capheus piggy-backing Riley that they could also be considered more than friends, so Will really shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

 

…

 

And life goes on.

.

At the end of the semester Nomi comes to him and Diego and announces that she wants to move in with Amanita.

She asks for their advice on whether it’s the right thing to do or not, and Diego spends the first ten minutes joking about all the sex they’re going to be able to have all over their own place. Will is more concerned with how comfortable Nomi is with the idea of living with a significant other.

“You sure about this?” He asks her, taking a seat on his couch because of course Nomi spread herself on his bed when she came in.

She just nods mutely.

“Neets asked you to?” He also asks.

Nomi rolls over so she’s facing them both. “She was the one who suggested it – their lease is up at the end of semester and they’re finding it difficult to find a four bedroom place so she said maybe we could get our own one-bedroom place.”

She pauses for a while before looking back up to the ceiling. “I love her. I love her so much I can’t breathe sometimes and I never thought anyone would be able to love me the way she loves me, so yeah I want to do this.”

Diego mimes being sick, but they both know how important this is to Nomi.

“Then hell yeah, move in with her.”

Nomi’s resulting smile lasts for days.

.

The problem comes in the forms of Riley, Wolfgang and Capheus. They need places to stay now. Nomi offers one of them her room in the dorm – with her roommate Sun – and Riley takes it when Wolfgang and Capheus manage to find an apartment close to campus. Coincidentally, Lito and Dani live in the apartment above theirs and so Will spends an afternoon with them helping unpack, introducing the neighbours to each other.

They go out for pizza that night – the group of them: Nomi, Neets, Lito, Hernando, Dani, Diego, Wolfgang and Capheus – and Capheus manages to persuade Riley to ditch her previous engagement with friends to come to karaoke with them. She agrees, but only if she can bring her new roommate Sun, and Wolfgang calls his mysterious girlfriend to come too.

Will isn’t surprised when the mysterious girlfriend turns out to be Kala, and he laughs at her obvious discomfort when she sees him sitting with her boyfriend.

Sun is quiet and spends most of her time talking to Riley until Capheus joins them and then he has her laughing and talking to everyone else too.

It’s a really nice group of people to be around, Will thinks as he leans into the corner of their booth and looks around at all his friends. Nomi and Lito are howling with laughter at some joke Dani has told, Diego is watching her with awe and Will knows he will definitely not be going home alone especially with the fact that Dani’s right hand is nowhere to be seen and Diego also seems to be intently clutching his drink. Capheus is talking animatedly about something and Sun is listening attentively, and Wolfgang is pressing kisses to Kala’s left shoulder every few minutes as she talks to Hernando. They are a strange bunch, to be sure.

And then there’s Riley. She seems to be observing as well, running her finger around the rim of her milkshake cup and laughing when she hears the tail end of one of Dani’s jokes, chiming in with corrections for Capheus’ stories when they get particularly melodramatic and then she’s looking right at Will.

There’s a bit of hair falling in her face and she brushes it out of the way and under her beanie as she beams at him.

He smiles back at her quickly, loving the way her eyes crinkle and she goes to bite her lip and jeez it’s all Will can do to not imagine that he is the one brushing her hair off her face, trailing a thumb along her bottom lip to stop her from biting it.

He’s in too deep, but there’s no way he can get out now.

.

And then comes the karaoke.

Nomi and Neets start – doing a duet of Destiny’s Child’s ‘Survivor’, and they have the whole bar up on their feet dancing and laughing as Nomi shakes her hips and Neets sassily waves her finger at everyone.

Lito sings a sexy Spanish number, crooning at Hernando who goes bright red and at the end they both excuse themselves, citing the bathroom and more drinks for their disappearance.

Will thinks that maybe he’ll be able to skip, especially since there are so many of them – no one will even miss it if he doesn’t.

But he goes to the bathroom and finds Diego waiting for him with the mic expectantly when he gets back.

“It’s time to get real, Gorski.” He says.

Well, shit.

Sure enough, the sounds of ‘Barbie Girl’ flood the speakers, and Nomi is cackling. They used to sing this song on their way home from school, with exaggerated dancing – Will doesn’t even know why they chose this song of all songs to scream out, but it definitely has come back to haunt him. He’s a terrible singer, and now he has to sing in front of Riley and jeez this is going to end so well.

He’s halfway through the chorus when Diego and Nomi join him though, and he’s taken back to the day Nomi told them she thought she should be a girl, not a boy. They were 12 and Will and Diego both knew Mike had been getting bullied at the swim club, but they didn’t know how to stop them. And then Mike told them, sitting on the ratty beanbags in front of the TV playing reruns of Pokémon. It didn’t even seem weird – Mike was their brother, what did it matter if he actually saw himself as their sister? They had still grown up together, they were still family. And so Diego had started crooning ‘Barbie Girl’, complete with the dance moves, and in Will’s basement they completed their dance routine, tears falling from Mike’s face. Will stills remembers the feeling of wiping the tears off his friend’s face, the way they were all in hysterics at the end.

So they all just look at each other and belt the song out, doing the twirls when it’s time, winking at their friends, until they’re all laughing and Will can’t get the words out. It’s actually fantastic.

“You guys were incredible!” Amanita gushes, giving Nomi a million kisses when they sit back down.

The others nod enthusiastically, Riley scrunching up her nose and nodding when Will looks at her. He feels a flush of heat in his chest from the look she gives him. Capheus asks who will go next and Kala shoves Wolfgang onto the stage.

Now, this is going to be good. He smirks at her and takes a big swig of his beer before reaching for the microphone, chuckling as the beat of the song begins.

“ _Twenty-five years and my life is still trying to get up that great big hill…_ ”

Kala cheers, blowing her boyfriend kisses.

Riley stands up and rushes to the stage to sing with him, laughing as he twirls her around to the beat.

Soon enough they’re all singing together, shouting when they reach the chorus. “ _And I said hey, what’s going on?_ ”

Will has never felt more alive.

 

…

 

At the beginning of the new semester, Will is on duty when he notices that he’s received two texts complaining about the noise coming from room 418, worrying that there’s some sort of argument. It’s his least favourite part of the job, having to tell people off. He doesn’t care if people are breaking the rules, as long as they’re being safe and aren’t going to ruin the reputation of the college or anything, but if they’re disturbing other people then he has to talk to them. And if people are having an argument, then he wants to fix it because it’s just not a fun time when roommates dislike each other.

It doesn’t occur to him until he’s knocked on the door that it’s Nomi’s old room, which means it’s now Riley’s and sure enough, after what sounds like a scuffle in the room, she’s opened the door.

The first thing he notices is how terrified she looks. Her hand is gripping the door handle so hard Will would be worried it might snap, if she were strong enough. She’s taking short breaths and can’t seem to look at anything other than Will’s shoulder.

He looks behind her into the room and sees three guys perched on her bed and against her desk.

He looks back at Riley. “You alright?” He asks her quietly, his eyes boring in hers.

She nods quickly but he knows she’s lying, can just tell somehow.

So he steps forward into the doorway, around Riley so he’s a barrier between them.

“Hey guys, sorry we’ve had some complaints and I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

He doesn’t like the way the older, taller man by the desk stands up, a sneer present. He also doesn’t like the way one of the others seems to be clenching his fist.

“I think that’s up to Riley, isn’t it mate?” The older one asks, looking over Will’s shoulder to the girl behind.

Will doesn’t give her the chance to reply. “I’m sorry, dude, but I actually do have the authority. If you don’t leave I am going to have to notify the police.”

He doesn’t miss the way the other two tense.

There is silence and Will looks back to Riley, to make sure he hasn’t read the situation wrong. She’s got her breathing under control but she’s not looking at any of them. He thinks she might be trembling.

“Please leave.” Will repeats, moving out of the way and gesturing to the corridor.

There is an agonising second as he and the older guy glare at each other, and then Riley’s voice breaks the silence.

“Please go, Nyx.” She says it so quietly Will barely hears her, but Nyx obviously did, and also knows how weakly she said it. Will isn’t surprised to see a smirk on his face as they finally leave.

Will follows them down the corridor and the stairs and escorts them out of the building to make sure they’ve left.

He’s never been more relieved they have access cards that prevent anyone who isn’t a resident coming inside the building, and he also makes sure to tell the receptionist to never let those guys sign in again.

Riley is sitting on her bed when he gets back to her.

She jumps when he enters the room but exhales shakily, and with relief, when she realises it’s just Will.

“You alright?” He asks, sitting down beside her on the bed.

She just nods.

“What was all that about?”

She shrugs. “They think I have some of their money from their drugs.” She glances over at him before adding “I don’t have it.”

Well, shit, that’s worse than he thought. He doesn’t exactly want people threatening any of the residents about drug money, least of all Riley.

“Do you think they’ll come back?”

He can’t help but stare at her hands – her long thin fingers which still tremble – and the way she’s folded up into herself. God, he just wants to protect her from everything.

Tentatively he reaches out and touches her right hand, squeezing it quickly as if to tell her everything will be alright. Her hands are cold, but his calloused ones seem to fit them perfectly. He never thought he’d get to touch her, feel her smooth skin. He daren’t breathe.

Her head quickly turns so she can observe him, and she looks up into his eyes as if she too is holding her breathe. It’s not a tense moment, not exactly, but it feels right.

She turns back after a while, breaking the spell and speaks. “They won’t come back here, but they might try and find me around campus.”

And, well, that won’t do.

“Give me your phone.” He says, letting go of her hand and holding out his own.

Wordlessly, he types his number in and then sends himself a text so he has her number also.

Turning to face Riley, he holds the phone out to her, using it to emphasise his words.

“If they come near you again, you call me – or text, it doesn’t matter – and I will come and help.”

He doesn’t expect her choked reply (“thank you”), or the way her arms come around her and she buries her face into his chest, but he doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her and rest his forehead on the top of her head.

He also doesn’t expect it to feel so completely _right_ either.

 

…

 

So now they’re friends.

She snapchats him funny things she sees during the day. They text each other stupid jokes and random thoughts – which artists music would you take with you to a desert island, favourite ice cream flavour – and he complains about all his work while she complains about the bar tending job she manages to get.

She sits with him in the dining hall every night, dragging her roommate Sun along, laughing at Diego’s anecdotes about his lecturers. She becomes good friends with Hernando too, and so he comes along too sometimes. Kala is a permanent fixture too – whenever she’s not out with Wolfgang.

Some days Riley will be in his room when he gets back from practice, along with Diego, and Will tries to be cool, calm and collected when he goes to the bathroom for a shower. Except, it’s hard to be cool while he’s naked in the shower and only a thin wall separates him from Riley.

He imagines Nomi standing there laughing at him though, and he manages to keep himself in control, because his friends would give him a hard time about this for the rest of his life.

After his shower they’ll play board games, or watch Parks and Rec, or sometimes they’ll just lie on his bed, the floor, the couch, and talk shit - Riley will tell him about life back in Iceland, the boy she lost in a car accident. He holds her hand and whispers secrets back, his dad is an alcoholic, he doesn't know where his mother is. Some nights they fall asleep like that, and Will wakes up to a warm body curled into his side.

Those are his favourite mornings.

.

He knows too, that the other RAs have a bet going as to how long it will be till they hook up. Kala lets him in on that particular little secret when she tells him to get a move on, or she’s lost $20.

She’s standing in the hallway of his floor, and jeez he really hopes none of his residents are around because she definitely isn’t being quiet about it either.

“You’re joking.” He groans, banging his head against the side of the door.

“I’m really not. Austin thinks not till the end of the year, and Steve has good information that sometimes she leaves your room in the middle of the night, or sometimes even the morning, so you’re not fooling anyone Will!”

Fan-fucking-tastic.

“Do they all know how gone I am for her?” He asks, looking up at her from his slumped position on the door. He doesn’t think he’d be able to deal with that – because then if she found out, what if she definitely did not feel the same, and Will loves being her friend, even if he can’t have anything else.

Kala just raises an eyebrow. “Well Sun certainly does, so I would think that yes most people do know. Blame Diego, and Hernando.”

He’s _screwed_.

She pats his arm, “If it’s any consolation, she definitely likes you too. Or, at least, Sun and I think so.”

.

So Will decides to be a bit more chilled, except now she sits with him and Nomi in their Evolution paper – and if Will thought it was distracting having her across the room from him, wow that is nothing on the smell of her perfume, the way she writes in her notebook, the furrow she gets in her brow when she concentrates.

And it doesn’t help that they all get coffee after the lectures, and he learns that they both take their coffee the same way, that she’d prefer to be studying music but she felt she needed to get a ‘real’ degree first, that she agrees he should become a cop if sports science doesn’t work on, and Will loves all of her idiosyncrasies.

.

Then his floor decides to get in on the action. He organises a floor dinner before everyone goes home for spring break and _no, Diego, you can’t come_ , and it’s great spending time with his floor because they’re a really great group of kids.

When they get back to the floor, Will decides that fuck it, it’s a Friday night, he won’t object to them having a few drinks in the floor common room, and somehow they get to playing truth or dare, because obviously his life can’t get cliché enough.

Rachel, one of his more outgoing residents, asks him “Truth or Dare” and Will isn’t stupid enough to say dare, especially in the age of technology they’re in – no doubt he would definitely be found out and would get in a shit load of trouble.

So he thinks nothing of it when he replies, “truth.”

Rachel smirks.

And Matt pipes up. “How long have you and that Icelandic chick been seeing each other?”

No. No, no, no.

“What the fuck you talking about Collins?” He asks, gripping his beer can tightly.

Matt just rolls his eyes. “We all know you have a massive hard-on for her, I mean, she and her roommate come to floor movies night – and we thought you only let Diego do that!”

“Yeah, and she’s in your room all the time.” Chris adds.

“And at dinner with you.” Another one butts in.

“You literally stare at her with huge heart-eyes.” Rachel agrees.

It’s all too much.

“Heart-eyes?” He asks incredulously.

Rachel nods. “Like when you stare at someone as if you can’t believe they exist and they’re with you. All romantic like.”

He’s so much more screwed.

Will groans and drops his head into his hands.

“Fuuuuck.” He groans. “Did Diego put you up to this?”

He hears Matt snigger, “And Nomi last time she visited.”

He’s going to kill them both.

“Firstly, we don’t go out. Secondly, you cannot tell her. Thirdly, you all suck.”

“She totally likes you back though, Will. She gives you heart-eyes too.” Rachel is trying to make things better, but Will still doesn’t believe her.

 

…

 

Except – he can’t really get that idea out of his head, the whole her liking him back thing.

Sometimes they’ll be hanging out and he’ll feel her eyes on him, or he’ll come back from practice and she’ll blush when he pulls off his top and chucks it at Diego. Whenever they visit Nomi and Neets and play Cards Against Humanity she will always be sitting next to him, laughing at the shit cards he puts down, brushing his hand to point to the one he really should play. Nomi tells him it’s sickening how into each other they are, and that Sun is definitely sick of hearing Riley moan his name in her sleep.

She’s become this constant in his life, as they all have, but Will doesn’t know how to talk to her about it so he resigns himself to tease her about how short she is, enjoying when she shoves him as they walk to lectures because of something he’s said.

 

…

 

The day before spring break, he has a football game and the whole group comes to watch him. It’s a cold day, but they manage to get seats near to the team so Will can see them if he turns around. Nomi, Neets and Capheus make a sign that reads ‘We heart you Will!” and Kala has found a few large inflatable batons for her and Wolfgang – who looks incredibly bored but gives Will a thumbs up when he sees him. Lito screams his admiration when Will comes back to the sidelines after warm up, standing up with Dani and Diego.

They’re all such dorks, but they’re _his_ dorks.

He sees Sun and Riley sitting on the side, quietly conversing, when he jogs over just before the game is about to start.

“Don’t embarrass me too much!” He yells to his ridiculous little family.

“You know it baby!” Diego calls back, as Lito pretends to kiss him and lick his face through the air.

As he’s about to turn around though, he notices Riley shivering.

“You alright? A bit cold?” He asks her, cupping his hands around his mouth.

She shakes her head, but he can see her trembling and the way her legs are jiggling to keep warm.

So, of course he does the most ridiculously cute thing he can think of. He pulls his jumper off (and okay it’s probably really sweaty and gross but hey it’s warm) and he chucks it up to her, thankful when it lands at its intended destination in her lap. Sometimes it feels like he’s in a shitty rom-com wow.

“Put it on, it’ll keep you warm!” He calls to her, watching as she quickly pulls it over her head and the blush that stains her cheeks.

He doesn’t know whether he imagines her taking a quick sniff of the front, but he revels in how much it engulfs her, the way the arms are baggy around her wrists, the way she seems to snuggle deeper into it, the content look on her face.

He also pretends not to notice their friends’ faces. Nomi’s mouth is in a perfect ‘O’, and he swears Lito’s jaw could not get any lower. Diego and Kala are trying not to laugh, and Wolfgang just looks smug.

Will feels smug too. Feels even more smug when he hears some of his floor hollering from above them, especially when he realises Riley is wearing his number and name too. His heart is so light he could fly. God, what a symbolic gesture. He’s pretty damn proud of himself actually.

“Thank you,” Riley mouths as he watches her, walking backwards.

He nearly bumps into the team mascot, but he manages to catch himself, scowling at Matt’s laughter from above his friends.

They’re all shits.

And okay, so maybe he plays probably the best football of his life and shows off, and it’s definitely not because Riley is in the stands wearing his jumper, of course not, no way. And okay maybe he loves the way she stands up when he’s about to get a touchdown, screaming with the rest of the crowd as the score increases.

“Cute girl you’ve got there, Gorski.” One of his teammates mentions as they have a water break.

Will looks up to the stands and sees his friends waving frantically, especially Riley who also blows him a kiss, as does Sun.

He just grins and looks back to the guy as he agrees. “Not my girl, but yeah.”

Dave just scoffs. “She hasn’t taken her eyes off you, get a move on you dweeb.”

Will hits his pads with his hand and laughs, but he can’t help but look back at her, grinning as their eyes meet. Maybe he will.

 

…

 

She goes to stay with Capheus and Wolfgang for spring break, and Will, Diego and Nomi make their way back to Chicago for a bit. He snapchats her things he thinks she’d like to see in Chicago and shrugs off Nomi’s teasing as he videos part of their singing on their drive to college when it’s time to head back

“You’re so pathetic.” She says.

But Will doesn’t even care anymore. He has half a semester left, he’s surrounded by great friends, he’s allowed to be pathetic.

“So are you and Neets, so frankly you can’t say shit.”

Diego lets out a howl of laughter from the backseat. “You’re both ridiculous, but I love it. But seriously Will, ask her out before someone else does.”

Will declines to mention that some nights they ring each other, especially if Riley’s had a bad nightmare. She says his voice calms her, so he’ll describe something that happened during his day, or one of his dreams for the future. He likes hearing her laugh and murmur into the phone so as to not wake up anyone, and the way he can hear her body move around the bed. He likes to imagine how she’s lying based on the sounds and close his eyes and imagine she’s in Chicago with him. Sometimes he thinks he can feel her. Often they’ll fall asleep to the sound of each other’s breathing but to Will that’s something personal, something he doesn’t want to share with anyone else.

 

…

 

The first Thursday back, the RAs organise a challenge night for anyone in the dorm who wants to compete. They’re to be given a list of 100 challenges and in a team of a maximum of 8 people they have to complete as many as they can before 6 a.m. the next morning.

Will helped write the thing, so he’s not super keen to take part knowing what it entails, but some of his residents ask for him to be on their team, so him and Diego join.

They manage to make it through the first 60 by 2 a.m. and his team are feeling pretty cocky so they flip to the bonus challenges for double points.

Will groans before they even read off the first one, because he knows what will follow.

“ _Kiss someone from each floor of the dorm collectively_.” Rachel reads out, and Will feels Diego’s eyes on his.

“Dude.”

It takes the others a little bit longer to catch on.

“Oh my gosh, Will, this is your chance to kiss Riley!” Rachel shrieks, waving her arms about and nearly knocking Matt out in the process.

“Plus, we’re the only team from sixth floor, and if she’s playing her team is gonna need one of us at some point if they do it.” Charlotte muses, arching her eyebrow at Diego, who smirks widely.

Okay, maybe when Will was writing the damn thing he thought about exactly that, but still. It’s not really the way he wants to kiss her for the first time.

Diego doesn’t give him a chance though, before he’s snatched Will’s phone out of his hand and has dialled Riley’s number. He runs off before Will can reach out and grab him and then everyone else in the team is ringing friends and significant others from the rest of the floors. Will is actually pretty impressed at their organisational skills.

By the time Diego comes back, Will knows he’s doomed.

“Well?” He asks expectantly, noticing his shit-eating grin.

“She’s the only one from her floor doing it still now – most of them are studying engineering and they all have a test tomorrow so her and this other guy joined a team from third floor, but I figured you don’t want to kiss a guy when you have the option of Riley.”

He still hasn’t said whether she’ll do it or not.

“So, will she?” Rachel asks eagerly. It seems as though Will isn’t the only one eager to know.

Diego just nods, laughing and slapping Will on the back.

“But I didn’t say it was going to be Will, just said that my team needed to kiss her.”

Diego tries to back pedal after seeing the rest of their team cringe. “But she definitely knows you’re in my team, I mean, I called off your phone. And she sounded pretty friendly when she answered.”

“So where are we meeting their team?” Matt asks quickly, before Will considers jumping in the water fountain behind them and never getting out.

“The Denny’s around the corner.”

So off to Denny’s they go.

She’s sitting with her team on a bench outside and they’re all dressed up as fairies which is pretty damn cute. Will especially likes the floaty dress she’s in, her scuffed converse and her bright blue wings which poke out from her back.

“Hey,” she greets them as they approach, smiling warmly at Will.

“Hi, cute costume.” Will manages to choke out, his eyes darting to the rest of the team who look practically giddy at this point. It’s like he builds himself up to ask her out and as soon as he locks eyes with her it’s game over and he turns into a complete vegetable.

“Who is going to kiss who then?” One of the boys from Riley’s team pipes up – Will is pretty sure his name is Trent, and he has a crush on Rachel and he feels a surge of irrational anger over the fact he interrupted their conversation.

“Well, we’re going to need to kiss one of you and then Riley.” Charlotte explains, checking quickly with Matt who nods his head.

“Which one of you volunteers to be kissed?” Diego asks shrewdly, and Will tries not to laugh when Trent’s hand flies into the air quickly.

He doesn’t miss Rachel’s blush either.

“Who am I kissing?” Riley asks quickly. It comes out of her mouth in a strangled way and Will looks over to see her looking at him with a strange look on her face. Her mouth is all twisted up in a grimace and as soon as she sees him looking she turns her head and focuses on one of her teammates.

He’s dismayed. He doesn’t want her to feel forced into doing something she doesn’t want to do. So he excuses himself and brushes past his team to go into Denny’s. He makes his way to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, which doesn’t really help the situation at all because he feels miserable. They were all wrong – she’s not interested and she feels trapped. He’s such a piece of shit.

After a minute or so he collects himself and makes his way out to the corridor.

Riley’s waiting for him. She looks terrified.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Will asks quickly, not even caring about the consequences anymore, especially not when she probably already knows he’s practically in love with her.

He reaches out and grabs her hands, twining his fingers through hers.

“Why did you leave?” She asks quietly, looking down at her hands.

Will swallows. “You looked like you were about to cry and I couldn’t do that to you.”

She leans back against the wall and takes a shaky breath. “I thought Diego wanted to be the one who kissed me, and I didn’t want to do that and I don’t know why I was so scared about that. And you looked like you were going to be sick which made me sad. We’re friends, I don’t like you looking sad.”

They’re both messes. But Will is worse. He can’t seem to get the words out, starts tripping over what could potentially be the most important conversation of his life. So he bungles it.

“How about I’m the one who kisses you then, hmm? Then you don’t have to worry. After all, we’re better friends – what are friends for if you can’t kiss them?”

It’s probably the worst thing he can say, he realises as her face goes blank and she pulls her hands from his.

“I – uh – “

Riley smiles tightly. “No, you’re right. Just a kiss between friends. Let’s do it, we’re running out of time.” She turns on her heel and gestures for him to follow her outside.

Will rakes a hand over his face, screwing his eyes shut before he’s following her.

Fuck. _Fuck_ , he’s an idiot, he’s such an idiot and now it’s all ruined.

Diego doesn’t say anything as they come out, but Will can tell that he notices his frustration.

The rest of his team can too and they quietly get out their cameras.

As soon as they’re rolling, Riley pops up on her tiptoes, gripping a shoulder for balance and kisses him quickly, allowing her lips to just to brush against his before she’s gone, leaving Will with just the ghost imprint of her lips on his. It tastes bitter – if a kiss that quick can taste like anything, and his heart feels heavy in his chest. There’s a lump in his throat too and all his muscles seem to ache. His hand is halfway to her face but she’s gone, giving the camera a thumbs up as she pulls away.

He feels terrible, and it’s testament to his team that they all just back away quietly, thanking Riley. Diego pulls on Will’s arm and he can’t even bring himself to look at her as they leave.

“What the _fuck_ , Gorski?” Diego asks once they’re out of view.

It feels like his heart has been shattered, and he literally has no one else to blame but himself.

 

…

 

She manages to avoid him for a good few days after that. She slides down his Snapchat best friends until she’s no longer there, not even in his recents, and it hurts every time he sees the notification and it’s not her.

He wallows. He doesn’t go to meals, instead eating in his room and spending most of his days at the gym, at practice, or studying in the library. His floor decides to postpone the weekly movie night, and sometimes Will opens his door to find little drawings stuff on the opposite wall – but they don’t cheer him up.

He doesn’t even go to the Evolution lectures, and Nomi calls him Monday after the class but he lets it ring through to voicemail before he sends her a quick text explaining that he doesn’t feel well. Hopefully it’ll give him a day to sort himself out before she’s barging into his room.

Hernando, Lito, and Diego visit him Monday night and explain that they haven’t seen Riley either – Sun is worried about her because she’s just in her room all day.

“Honestly, Gorski, you’re a fucking idiot, but you know it. Go make things right you buffoon. You have a few weeks left in the semester and then we’re gone, and she is too, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” Diego says.

But he can’t. He can’t face that broken face again, doesn’t want to make it worse than it already is.

.

Sure enough, the next day Nomi is charging into his room with her laptop. He’s in the middle of doing a reading for one of his papers but she just points at the bed.

“Sit.”

Will isn’t going to argue with her. He can see the preloaded opening screen of The Notebook and he knows that this is Nomi’s way of going all or nothing – he’s seen their routine: they watch quietly until the person who needs the pep talk stops, and then they hash out all the options.

Diego comes in a few minutes later, popcorn at the ready and they all cluster around the laptop screen. Weirdly, he's never loved them both more than this moment - Nomi's head on Will's shoulder, Diego's arm brushing against Will's, their steady synchronised breathing.

They get to the part where Noah and Allie are licking ice cream off each other’s faces when he can’t take it anymore.

“Nomi, what do I do?”

She’s paused the movie faster than Will can realise and then she’s sitting up straight on the bed and grasping his face with her hand.

“You go down to her room and say ‘Sorry Riley, I’m a complete jackass and I’ve basically loved you for the whole year please go out with me even though I don’t deserve you because I’m an idiot’.”

Nomi is staring at him so intensely he feels incredibly small.

Diego chimes in, “I saw her today and she looks like shit, Will. You fucked up real bad and we are not gonna let that stand. Riley Blue is precious and you two are going to be the cutest couple I’ve ever seen and continually make us want to throw up that’s how cute you’re gonna be, so get your ass down there already.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. He quickly goes into his bathroom and scrubs his face with water, breathing deeply as he stares into the mirror.

“I’m coming for you, Riley.” He says to himself, gaining the courage.

He hears a commotion from outside in the corridor and then he’s pulled open the door, giving Nomi and Diego the thumbs up before he rushes out the doorway.

Except – except someone is already standing in the corridor, fist raised as if to knock on the door.

He can’t breathe.

He hears Diego swearing from his room, feels him and Nomi scurrying around him and out the door.

“Hey,” he manages to get out

Riley swallows. Diego was right, she does look like shit. Well, actually she looks like Will feels. It doesn’t look like she’s slept in days and her hair is ruffled up, she looks drained. Will knows he doesn’t look much better.

But she’s wearing his jumper. He never got it back from her after the game, he’d forgotten about that, but he can’t take his eyes off the way it falls down to mid-thigh on her, the way it wraps her in a big cocoon. She is _wearing_ his jumper. _God_ , he loves her. He can’t fuck this up.

“Hi,” she finally gets out. She’s twisting the sleeve, her eyes darting down the corridor, and Will’s eyes follow to see practically his whole floor standing there in shock.

He can’t look away from Riley though and soon he’s examining her again, the pale skin under her eyes, the way her lips seem to have been bitten continuously, the heavy way she’s breathing, the way she fits the jumper and hell he’s actually never seen something so painfully beautiful.

It takes all he’s got to not stroke her cheek.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispers, his eyes staring into hers.

He can see her face crumpling, and he can’t take it anymore. He reaches out and grabs one of her hands, pulling her towards him until her nose is bumping his chin.

“Sorry,” she whispers, stepping back a little, but Will isn’t going to let her go far.

He tilts her chin up until he can rest his forehead against hers, letting out a deep sigh when his right hand comes up to rest on her cheek finally.

“I’m such an idiot.” He murmurs, looking into her eyes, feeling the soft skin under his calloused hand.

“I think we both are.” Riley agrees, and fuck, Will can’t get over the fact that she’s wearing his jumper.

“You’re wearing my jumper.” He says, his left hand reaching out to her hip to stroke the material.

She smiles wryly at this, “Well, this really cute guy let me wear it and I kinda liked having his number on me. It felt like he was mine.”

It’s really taking all he has not to kiss her but he needs to get this right.

“For what it’s worth, I know for a fact that the really cute guy loved seeing his name and number on you.”

They’re silent for a moment, and Will closes his eyes. He feels more connected to her this way, as if he can almost feel her thought processes, and the steady way she’s breathing.

“Will…” she begins.

“Wait, Riley. Let me say something first please.”

He feels her nod so he opens his eyes and pulls back a little bit.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said the other night. I should have said, Riley I’ve wanted to kiss you since I bumped into you at the beginning of the year, and it kills me to know that you probably don’t feel the same but if you do, I would be honoured if you would go out with me.”

“Yes,” she chokes out.

He exhales deeply and looks into her eyes, feeling her nose brush against his and the way she’s angled her face up to his.

He cups her face with his hands and leans in, agonisingly slow because he wants to remember every detail of this kiss.

“Are you sure?” He breathes out just as their lips are about to touch. He can feel the slight brush of her lips as she breathes and he gazes into her eyes, feeling her nod.

“Kiss me, Will.”

So he does. It’s soft and slow at first as they both take their time to feel each other, and it’s mind-blowing how warm and gentle and _perfect_ she is – and then her hands are around his neck and in his hair and he’s groaning into her mouth and crushing her against him. She gasps into his mouth as he runs his tongue over her bottom lip and wow, it’s frantic and she’s not close enough, she’ll never be close enough, he feels like he’s on fire as he grips her hip and jaw tightly.

She pulls away to catch her breath and moans as he rests his head on her shoulder, turning so he can press kisses to her neck.

He feels her tense and looks up to see her looking down the corridor.

Oh, shit. His floor is still there, with their phones out. Rachel is wiping away a tear. Nomi and Diego are behind them and it looks like Nomi is about to cry too.

“Fuck off.” Will calls out to them, looking back to Riley who is smiling so widely he can see her eye crinkles and her dimples. It’s his favourite smile of hers. Fuck, he really loves her. He can’t get over the way his heart is beating in his chest, the way his stomach is all in knots.

He pulls her into his room and revels at the little shriek she lets out, before he’s pinned her to the door.

“Have I told you,” he presses a kiss to her temple, “just how much,” another to her cheek, “I fucking,” her nose, “love,” she moans and hits her head back against the wood, “that jumper on you?” he reaches her mouth, hovering above as she leans forwards to his lips.

“We’ve waited long enough, Will.” She whines, pulling on his shirt until his lips are brushing hers.

He smirks and grabs her waist, lifting her up so he doesn’t have to lean down as far. She wraps her legs around his waist and presses back against the wall, both of them groaning as her slight movements mean her core connects with his.

“We have all day, baby.” He tells her as he presses into her more, capturing her lips gently with his and showing her just how much she means to him.

Yeah, they’re going to make the cutest fucking couple.


End file.
